Good times for a change
See, the luck I’ve had
Can make a good man
Turn bad

So please please please
Let me, let me, let me
Let me get what I want
This time

Haven’t had a dream in a long time
See, the life I’ve had
Can make a good man bad

So for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time
Lord knows, it would be the first time

The Smiths, Morrissey, Marr, Rourke, and Joyce. You either like their many times depressing lyrics that convey mordant bleakness or you don’t. Girlfriend in a Coma, Work is a Four Letter Word, and Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, aren’t songs for the perky set.

If you like this sort of lyric you can read them in short story form. Please: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths, stories by a variety of writers who love the band and their melancholia tell their stories in literary form. These stories bring the world of literature and music together. Like The Smiths, these stories can be at times both dark and melancholy but have a twist of sweetness within.

If love blooming by the cemetery gate, shoplifters of the world uniting, and the death of a disco dancer stir something within you then take a chance on these short stories. And then take a listen to The Smiths.